Foot guard



Mar. 3. 1925.

N. E. SALSICH FOOT emmn Filed July '17, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet I INVENTOR ATTORNEY lMar. 3. 1925. v V

N. E. SALSICH FOOT GUARD Filed July'l'T, 19255 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 gg, r//

INVENTOR 44 212 157 flal'zik.

ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 3, 1925.

NEIL E. SALSICH, OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.

FOOT GUARD.

Application filed July 17,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NEIL E. SALsIoi-r, a citizen of the United States, and residing at Bethlehem, Lehigh County, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Foot Guards, oi which'the following is a specification.

My invention relates to foot guards for use in connection with guard rails or in connection with railroad rails of any type which define divergent spaces which are a source of danger owing to the likelihood of one getting his foot caugl'it in such space, and it has for its object to provide apparatus of thecharacterv designated which shall be capable of being readily rolled and which shall be of such a construction as to be susceptible of being readily shaped to fit divergent spacesot this character.

A further object of my invention is to provide a guard construction which will not only serve as a safety device, as pointed out, but which will limit the accumulation of snow and ice or other material between the gu'ardand main rails and permit of ready cleaning out of the space between the rails. I Apparatus made in accordance with'my inventionis illustrated on the accompanying drawings, forming a part of'this application, in which- Figure 1 isa plan viewof a main and guard rail showing one form of my improved foot guard; V

Fi ure 2 is a section taken along the line 1I-- I of Figure 1 and viewed in the direction of the arrow;

Figures 3 and 4 are perspective views of a foot guard intended for use where the guard and main rails are parallel;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a foot guard having a trapezoidal top to fit divergent spaoes between bentends of a guard rail and a main rail;

Figure 5 is afragmentary plan view showing a'guard rail of the bent-end type with the form of foot guard shown in Figure 5 in place;

Figure 6 is a plan view showing a further modified type of guard;

Figure 7 is a View on a larger scale of one of the guard sections employed in Figure 6; and

1923. 'Serial No. 652,040.

Figure 8 is a sectional view taken along the line VIIIVIII and viewed in the direction of the arrow.

Referring now to the drawings for a. better understanding of my invention, in Figure 1, I show a main or track rail 10 and a guard rail 11, the latter railhaving a web portion 12 which is substantially parallel throughout its length to the web portion 13 of the main rail 10. The head portion 14 of the guard rail is machined off at its ends as indicated at 15 in order to provide widened entrance spaces for wheel flanges.

In order to avoid. the divergent entrance spaces of the character justreferred to being a source of danger, I provide foot guards 17 of box-like form to fill the space between the webs of the guard and main rails sufiiciently to prevent one from having his footcaught therein. The foot guard is preferably secured to the web portion 12 of the guard rail in any suitable manner, as by means of the rivets 18.

The foot guard is illustrated more in detail in Figures 3 and 4, from which itwill be seen that the guard is in the form of an angle section having a lateral flange 19 for attachment to a rail web portion and a top flange 20 for blocking a divergent end space.

The flange 20 is extended beyond the flange 19 at one end to provide a lip 21, which,

when bent down, elfectively blocks in an end- -wise direction the space between rails.

In Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4,1 show a form of foot guard in which the width of the top flange 20 is substantially uniform from end to end. This type of construction is suitable where the main rail and the guard rail Web portions are substantially parallel throughout t-helength of the guard rail.

However, in case the web portion of the guard rail diverges from the web portion of the track rail, it is necessary that the top portion of the foot guard shall be modified to fit the divergent space. This may be readily done with my type of foot guard merely by machining one edge, thereby producing a foot guard having a substantially trapezoidal top portion 20 to fit between the rails, as shown in Figure 5.

In Figures 6, 7 and 8, Ishow a further modified form of foot guard which is co extensive with the guard rail. In these views, I show main and guard rails and ll having parallel webs 13 and 12, respectively, and a guard member construction 17 (o-extensive with the guard rail 11. To facilitate manufacture and installation the guard structure 17 is preferably made in a plurality of sections 23, one of which is shown on larger scale in Figure 7.

Each section 23 is preferably madewtromrolled angle bar and consists of a lateral wall 19, provided with a suitable number of openings 24 to receive rivets 25, whereby thefoot guard is secured tothe'web 13- or the guard rail 11, and a top wall 20", which serves to obstruct the space between the main rail and the guard rail throughout the length of the latter. Each section 23 -has it's top portion extending beyond the side portion 19 at each end of the latter to provide'lip portions 21, which, when bent down as shown on the drawings, effectively blockthe spaces between the main rail and the guard rail at the ends ofthe latter.- In addition to the obstructive function of the lip mernrbore 21, these members also serve to brace the guard structure; and in this connection, as may be seen from Fig. 8, where the lip 21 is shown as being provided with. an edge conforming to the inclination of the top' sur face of a rail flange and being arranged closely contiguous to the latter, that due to this construction, the foot guard constitutes an effective hold-down to restrain outward tilting of the main rail from the guard rail.

Also, conversely, .the foot guards limit possible tilting of a guard rail toward the main rail.

As may be seen from Figs; 1 and 4, the rivet openings for the foot-guard are arranged near to the outer end of the latter, or the end having the downwardly-extending lip 21, with result that, if the foot guard is called upon to serve as a hold-down to restrain outward tilting of the main rail, the rivets serve to the best advantage in resisting shearing stresses,-the nearer the rivets are to the point of application of the applied force. the less the shearing moments.

In addition to the members 23 servingto block the space between the rails near the top and at the ends, the structure also limits the accumulation of snow and ice or other material between the main rail and the guard rails and makes it easy to clean out the space between the rails.

While I have shown my invention in three forms, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various other changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof, and I desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereupon as are imposed by the prior art or as are specifically set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

l. The combination, with a mam rail and a guard rail having parallel webs and the guard rail having a head portion which is cut away on a. taper at the ends and at the main rail side to provide converging wheelflange entrance spaces, of foot guard structures for the entrance spaces each of which includes a vertical flange secured to the web of the guard rail, a top flange integral with the upper edge of the vertical flange and having its opposite edge arranged beneath and overlapped bythe head otthe main rail, and an end flange or lip integral with the outer end of the top flange'and extending downwardly to block the space below the top flange and between'the railsu 2. The combination, witha main rail and a guard rail having parallel webs and the guard rail having a headportion which is cutaway on a taper at the ends and at the main rail side to provide converging wheelflange entrance spaces, of foot'guard structures forthe entrancespaces each of-which includes a vertical flange secured to the web of the guard rail, atop flange integral with theupper edge of the vertical flange and having its opposite edge arranged beneath .i

and overlapped by the head of the main rail, and a downwardly e-Xtending flange integral with the outer-end of thetop' flangeand having a portion of its lower edge inclined :to conform'to the inclination of the top surface of a main rail flange, said inclined portion of the lower edge beingiarranged contiguously to the upper surface of a main rail flange.

3.v The combination, with a main rail and a guard rail having parallel webs and the guard rail having-a head portion which is cut away on a taper at the ends and at the main rail side to provide converging wheelflange entrancespaces, of foot guardistructures for the entrance spaces eachjof which includes a vertical flange, a topflange in tegral with the upper edge of the vertical flange and having itslateral edge opposite to the vertical flange arranged beneath and overlapped by the head, a downwardly-extending lip or flange integral with the top flange and having a bottom edge arranged:

over and contiguous to the top surface of a main rail flange, and rivet means for securing the vertical flange tothe guard rail web arranged near to the end of such flange which is adjacent to the downwardly-extending lip or flange.

l. The combination, with a guard rail structure including supporting means and a head portion joined by a web which is straight from end to end and the head portion bein cutaway on a taper at the ends and at the main rail side thereof, of foot guard structures for the ends of the guard rail each of which includes a Vertical flange secured to the web of the guard rail, a top flange integral with the upper edge-of the vertical flange and being of substantially uniform width from end to end, and a downwardly-extending flange integral with the outer end of the top flange and having the portion of its bottom ed e adapted to adjoin a main rail flange inc inedupwardly so 10 as to be contiguous to the top surface of a main rail flange when the structure is in stalled.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature this 5th day of July, 1923.

NEIL E. SALSICH. 

